


I Don't Need a Sub

by HawkyBarton



Series: OTP and Fanfic Brigade (Prompts galore) [68]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Clint Barton Needs a Hug, Dom!Bruce, Dom!Steve, Dom!Thor, Dom!Tony, Dom/sub, F/M, Fluff, M/M, POLYAMOROUS RELATIONSHIPS WOO, Poor Clint, Still Better Than 50 Shades of Grey, but it gets betterrrr, dom!Natasha, dom!Phil, fluff at the end, i think i have no more tags, prompt, still better than 50 shades, sub!clint, uhhhh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-18
Updated: 2015-09-18
Packaged: 2018-04-21 07:59:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4821443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HawkyBarton/pseuds/HawkyBarton
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Avengers are so confused about why Clint freaked out on them. </p>
<p>They had never seen a dom act like that before. </p>
<p>Which of course, should have clued them in right there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Don't Need a Sub

**Author's Note:**

> Anon asked: I know you have a fic already called Don't Apologize but my prompt is kinda the same but I'd like dom/sub verse where they're all doms, sub Clint, obviously has a mental breakdown. He runs and they look everywhere, the vents at SHIELD and the tower, safe houses, but the one place they don't check is on the A of the tower, where it's obviously freezing that high at night and he's punishing himself like he was taught before, physically. (Tony finds him when he's flying over the city looking)

If you had to look at Clint Barton and decide whether he was a dom, neutral, or sub; you would say dom, no problem. 

The problem, however, is that he isn’t. 

Clint Barton wasn’t a dom, he was in fact, 1000% a sub. 

But you would have a hard time getting him to admit it. 

Even some of his best friends didn’t realize he was a sub until he had a breakdown after a mission. 

And when the Avengers say breakdown, they mean it. 

There was screaming, crying, throwing things, the Avengers had no clue how to deal with a sub in such distress. 

They all just watched in shock and Clint threw once last lamp as Phil entered the room (shocking the older dom immensely), before disappearing into the vents.

“Agent Agent, what in the hell was that?!?” Tony asked, pointing to the destruction around the room.

Phil shook his head, “No clue..... But I will find out”

 

~

Clint was nowhere to be found. 

Not in the vents, not in the gym, not in his rooms, not in the kitchen, not in the range, not on the roof, not anywhere. 

“Is there anyplace around town he would go?” Steve asked quietly as they tried to call Clint was the 8th time. 

Phil shook his head, “No. His only safe house was attacked in the Battle of Manhattan, and I know he hasn’t bothered to get a new one”

“And his secret stash was moved into his room here,” Natasha added. “It used to be in a locker at Grand Central Station”

Tony sighed, “I’m gonna get into the suit and go look for him, it’s too cold outside to be wandering around”

“Wow Tony, Pepper is finally turning you into a grown-up”

“Hush your whore mouth Bruce Banner”

Phil sighed, “Can you please go look for him?”

Thor stood up, “I’ll help look for Barton too. Come Stark, before it gets even colder”

 

*******

Clint wrapped his arms closer o his body and forced himself not to shudder.

_Bad subs weren’t allowed to show weakness. Bad subs were supposed to deal with it.  
_

Clint was punishing himself, since that was what he was always taught to do.

When Clint misses a shot, that means punishment. It means you were a bad sub and you needed punishment.

Why hadn’t the team wanted to punish Clint?

He had missed a shot, almost gotten Steve killed. He deserved to be punished. 

He didn’t deserve pizza and movies, and how _dare_ the team think otherwise!

Not punishing a sub for being bad, who the hell did they think they were?

Closing his eyes tight, Clint pressed his head to his knees and went over the mantra Jacques and Buck had taught him in the circus.

_I am a bad sub.  
_

_I missed a shot which makes me a bad sub._

_I will try to be a good sub._

_I will punish myself until I am a good sub._

_I will not miss again.  
_

 

_*******_

Tony went to the right, and Thor went to the left, while the rest of the team stayed inside and tried to find Clint.

Sighing to himself, Tony flew past the tower, and was so focused on trying to find Clint, that he almost missed Clint. 

Circling back around, Tony spotted him.

_The damn idiot is on the goddamn A. What the fuck Legolas?!?_

Flying over to the A, Tony flipped up his visor and stopped in front of Clint.

“It’s 10 below 0 Katniss, you should be inside”

 

*******

Clint slowly looked up at Tony and shook his head, no. 

_I need to be punished, I need to stay outside.  
_

“No? What do you mean, no?” Tony asked.

“I need to be punished” Clint said quietly. “Missed a shot” he mumbled, even quieter.

 

*******

Tony blinked, couldn’t believe he had actually heard Clint say that, and picked the archer up anyway.

Clint began to shout and pummel at Tony’s armor, but he continued to fly upwards and inside. 

Not bothering to take off the suit, Tony walked into the common floor living room, and deposited Clint into Phil Coulson’s arms. 

“Go ahead Clint, tell everyone why you were outside”

 

*******

Clint curled up on the couch and refused to look at any of the team in the eye, “I missed a shot. I needed to be punished” he muttered. 

Why did Tony drag him inside? Clint knew how cold it was outside, it was _why_ he was outside! He needed to be **punished** dammit, no coddled!

 

*******

Phil couldn’t believe his goddamn ears. 

Looking at the rest of the team, Phil cleared the room in less than 3 seconds. 

Sitting down next to Clint, Phil faced the younger man. “Clint, I want you to look at me. No, don’t turn away, look at me.”

Clint finally turned his head and stared at Phil.

Phil clenched his hands on his pants at the look in Clint’s eyes. It was tragic. 

“Clint, I need you to answer this question truthfully.... Are you a sub?”

Clint frowned at Phil, “Of course I am...... What else would I be?”

Phil sighed and Clint’s behavior began to make perfect sense.

“We all thought you were a dom Clint. But that’s besides the point right now.”

Clint shrugged and tried to turn his head away again, but Phil caught his chin in his hand. 

“No looking away, it’s rude. You aren’t a rude sub, are you Clint? I don’t think you are” Phil cooed softly. 

Clint’s pupils dilated slightly at the tone, and Clint jerked back.

Phil smiled, “No one’s ever talked to you like that? Don’t worry, you’ll be getting lots of praise from now on precious”

Clint let out a soft whine and tried to curl himself into a tighter ball.

“None of that Clint. No more punishing yourself. You may have missed a shot today, but you more than made it up when you quickly shot out another arrow like nothing even happened. Do you know how amazing that is? No one I know could have done that, but you did. Such a talented sub, that’s what you are” Phil continued.

 

*******

Clint didn’t know what was happening to him as Phil continued to coo, but he did know that he liked it much better than the punishments. 

Punishments made him feel like such a bad sub, even when he sometimes thought that he wasn’t. Punishments were something that he hated, but this? What Phil was doing? It was making him melt....

 

*******

Phil watched in stunned bemusement as Clint quickly went into a sub-drop, and went pliantly into Phil’s arms. 

Calling in the rest of the team, Phil brought Clint back up quickly so that they could all talk it out.

 

~

Phil had Clint tucked securely in his arms as the team all talked to Clint gently.

Now knowing that they had a sub in their midst, the team had this new revitalized energy to it.

“Clint, no more punishing yourself, okay?” Steve said with a smile. “You can come to us, and if you deserve a punishment, then we’ll give you one, but only if you _deserve it”  
_

Clint bit his lip and looked to Phil, who just nodded. “O-okay. No more punishing myself, go it”

“Such a good sub,” Natasha cooed from Clint’s other side, her fingers combing through his hair. 

Clint nodded and purred quietly, his eyes closing. 

Phil just chuckled and pressed a kiss to Clint’s temple. 

 

*******

_2 Years Later_

“So do any of you have a sub?” The interviewer asked the Avengers.

They all just gave the man a secret smile and nodded, their eyes going to Clint.

The man in question just shook his head, “Nope. I don’t need a sub”

“Why’s that?” The man asked, confused.

Clint just winked and looked back at the rest of the team, and then off to the side where Phil was standing.

_I’m a good sub._

_I deserve to be loved.  
_

_I will do whatever I can to be a good sub._

_But even when I am bad,  
_

_I know that I am loved.  
_

**Author's Note:**

> (( You can prompt me if you wish for other fics, or for any ideas you may have about this fic at [ Hellogoodbye](http://hellogoodbye741.tumblr.com/ask) ))


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